


The Testimonies

by Idontlovejessica



Series: Cherry Blossom Nights [2]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Loves Ronan Lynch, D.C.!AU, F/M, Future Fic, Henry is referenced but does not appear, In chapter two only, M/M, Multi, NSFW, Ronan Lynch & Blue Sargent Friendship, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Sarchengsey is coming but its just Blusey in this one, Washington!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:55:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25760962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idontlovejessica/pseuds/Idontlovejessica
Summary: Blue and Gansey arrive in D.C. to help Adam out with an important vote. Their testimony leads to some shenanigans between the boys.
Relationships: Henry Cheng/Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Series: Cherry Blossom Nights [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868806
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55





	1. Height Privilege

Gansey waved to the gathered crowd of paparazzi as he stepped out of the airplane. Blue had once again insisted that they take commercial air, but he had persuaded her to at least let them take first class. She had responded that it was a capitalist luxury unbecoming of their political affiliations but had acquiesced eventually. They would be taking a cab however, not a private car. After over a decade of knowing her, Gansey could navigate his luxuries around her principles, and vice-versa. 

Blue threw her hand up to catch the attention of the Uber driver, which did absolutely nothing in the sea of people at Dulles International Airport. Gansey let go of her hand to wave at the navy Honda Civic that was taking them to the SOB in D.C. proper. It immediately flashed its lights and pulled towards them.

“Height privilege,” Blue whispered under her breath.

“I only use it for good.” Gansey retorted as they stored their bags in the trunk and clambered inside. The drive was smooth, the driver a little more inquisitive than either of them would like, but both Gansey was far too polite to shut her down. It was obvious she knew who they were, but was trying to cover it up. 

Gansey had always been noted by the press, at least the press deeply entrenched in D.C. city-wide politics. His mother’s unbroken chain of congressional victories was the stuff of legend. He had first come into his own name when he very publicly denounced his mother’s policies in the mid 2020’s and endorsed her opponent in the general. From there his personal fame had grown alongside his reputation as the last of the “Gentleman Archaeologists”. His current pet project, a new leyline running exactly parallel to every curve in the Mississippi River, had uncovered dozens of fertile Native American archaeological dig sites and Gansey had been featured in several documentaries in connection to them. National Geographic had had him pose with an Indiana Jones whip and hat on their cover a couple years back.

Blue, not to be outdone, garnered praise in her own light. Through the backing of both Gansey money, and a sizable endowment from Cheng Industries, she had created a series of environmental outposts throughout the country educating about the dangers of climate change and actively preserving the areas around them for future use. After one magazine called it “The New Ivy League”, the name had stuck and spread like a naturally occurring and necessary wildfire.

They were in town for two reasons. 1) They had both been asked to testify before Congress in connection with a bill concerning Native rights in regards to land use and preservation for land under Native control, and 2) To visit Adam. Luckily for them, and largely due to them, Adam’s boss was pushing hard for the bill to pass. It would be the first time in about a year the three had been in the same city, and about three years since they had all been able to work on the same project when they were together. 

Thirty-five minutes later they were dropped off by their Uber in front of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Their driver had finally broken down as she was parking and said, “I just love the work you both do, so much. My son watches your documentaries at school every year, Mr. Gansey.” 

“We appreciate that, Ma’am. Tell him he should look into archaeology and Native rights when he grows, and have him look me up when he does, alright?” He passed his card into her hand as she thanked him profusely and they closed the door with a, “Yes, No, of course, No thank you, Yes. Bye-bye now.” 

They both sighed as they closed the door and took each other’s hands again. “I love that you just do that. Give your card out to people.” Blue said.

“They almost never call, so what’s the harm? And if they do, and I can help, all the better. We need more kids in the fight.” Gansey shrugged. They passed through security at the SOB and briefly admired the statue in the center of the square atrium before getting into the elevator and travelling up to the 14th floor to the offices of Senator Douglas Fairview (VA-D). 

“June! An absolute delight to see you! You know, you mentioned the last time that we were here that your mother was interested in baking and I learned just the most incredible recipe for a persimmon cake from a Choctaw woman I interviewed last year. I thought of you and your mother and I kept it down for you. Can I email it to you?” Gansey walked into the office and immediately ingratiated himself with the secretary, as he did with everyone he came in contact with. Blue had tried the persimmon cake in question, and nodded to June as to its quality. 

“Is he in, June?” She asked impatiently, Gansey shot her a quick look as he and June traded emails, but June turned to her and nodded. Blue set off to the back of the little complex to Adam’s door. She did not knock. 

“Senator, I understand your position but I’m going to have to disag… Hold on a minute sir,” Adam swiveled in his chair, expecting his boss, but lighting up considerably when he saw Blue in front of him. “No, I’ll call you right back sir. Thank you, sir.” He concluded and put the phone down and stood up. 

“Blue. You’re here.” He said with a sigh of relief. He held his hands out and Blue ran towards them and they hugged until Gansey had finished sending June the recipe and had found the door. “Gansey! Thank you so much for coming for this, I think it’s really going to help.” The two men hugged for a long time as well. 

“No trouble, Adam. It’s our pleasure. If anything, it’s us who should be thanking you. I know how much you had to push Senator Fairview to take up this issue.” Gansey kept his hand on Adam’s shoulder long after the hug and Adam stoically allowed it.

Adam clapped, “C’mon, let’s go get dinner. Ronan’s cooking back at my apartment. You go on ahead, I just have to make one call and I’ll be right behind you, okay?” 

Gansey and Blue exchanged a look as Adam sat back down. They knew ‘one more call’ meant that Blue, Ronan, and Gansey would each be at least two glasses of wine in before Adam would make an appearance. To say nothing of the cheese platter. “Sure, Adam. One more call. We’ll see you in an hour or so.” Blue waved him off and started to exit the office. Adam tried to argue at her retreating figure, but the line connected and he was back to professional Adam Parrish talking down a frantic U.S. Senator. 

Ronan answered the door in a fairly standard uniform of black, but with an old “Fairview 2028” apron tied around his waist. He grinned widely at seeing the pair in front of him and pulled Gansey into a rough hug. Blue just received a fist bump and a “Maggot”, that she returned with an eyeroll, but after the ritual had been appeased, they hugged as tightly as Ronan and Gansey. 

“Let me guess, he told you ‘one more call’?” Ronan asked as he led them into the apartment. They nodded and Ronan sighed. “Good thing the fucking roast has another hour in the oven. If he wasn’t so predictable I’d be pissed. Did I tell you about how he owes me twenty bucks because he actually said the words ‘I’m yours the whole weekend,’ to me?” 

Ronan regaled them with the tale of Senator Hackfield and their horror movies twins routine as he pulled the wine out and poured them all healthy glasses. 

“So Indiana, how goes the leyline?” 

Gansey bristled to the nickname, which was exactly what Ronan had been aiming for, and launched into a tale of a river running backwards just north of the Arkansas/Tennessee border. Almost exactly an hour later Adam opened the door and all three got up from their seats to hug him again. 

“‘Just let me make one more call’ he says. ‘I’m right behind you’ he says.” Ronan grumbled in a good enough approximation of Adam’s Henrietta accent that it earned him a cuff on the back of his head from his partner. He grinned wolfishly and went back to the kitchen. 

The roast was delicious.


	2. Distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get down to some post-work shenanigans. Ronan helps Adam relax and keep away from his phone for a few minutes.

Congressional testimonies are as much theatre as they are fact finding missions. Adam knew this intimately. He had called Gansey and Blue for this very reason. Convincing the individual members in the chamber was definitely part of the game, but it was at least as important, if not more important, to create watchable television. Television and auto-play Twitter videos is what made politicians feel pressure and what made constituents call into their offices. Adam wasn’t dumb. He knew the “Last of the Gentleman Archaeologists” and Greta-Thunberg-2.0 Blue Sargent would both be good for at least one nowthis news clips each, and maybe together even a spot on Maddow and an angry response on one of the Fox talking heads--which would of course then go straight to the late night shows. Were there actual Native people who could speak to their experiences as land carers, or credentialed environmental scientists who could speak to the efficacy of native land use traditions? Sure, but they wouldn’t get the media attention Richard Campbell Gansey III and his wife Blue Sargent would get. 

Adam hated his job sometimes. 

He had those exact Native leaders and scientists lined up after Gansey and Blue’s testimony, but the fact that they wouldn’t make as much of a dent as his two friends in the public made him angry. He reminded himself, again, that results were what made the country change. If they could make this bill pass, the next bill about Native rights might be easier, it was a necessary evil. “Necessary Evil” was a phrase he had heard in Washington so many times he could set his watch to it. It seemed like every fucking thing he did was a pervision of what everyone involved wanted for the sake of “Necessary Evils”, and yet, this was how it was done. 

“It drives me crazy sometimes, Ronan! Why can’t we just do what we need to? Let the people who actually know about this talk about it?” Adam spewed when he got home that night after Gansey and Blue’s testimony. 

“‘Cause this country is a nightmare and the congress is a useless way to make change? We could just be out there fuckin’ changing things you know,” Ronan punctuated his statements with soft kisses to Adam’s jaw and throat.

“God I hate you.” Adam replied, but with no real bite, as Ronan was doing that for him. Ronan knew this was an effective way to make Adam relax from his job but it also had the side benefit of making Adam defensively protective of his legislative agenda. This kept him motivated.

“Hmm. No you don’t.” Ronan countered. 

“I do. I hate you. You distract me on important nights.” Adam shoved Ronan back a few inches and tried to get at his phone to see if their media baiting had resulted in anything, but Ronan was too quick and grabbed his phone first and threw it onto the loveseat across the living room from them. 

“Nah, you’re mine tonight. You can check your fucking Twitter feed in the morning, or at least in like an hour from now. Anything you check now will only be more popular in an hour. So shut up.” 

Adam groaned, but it turned quickly into a different kind of groan as Ronan scuckled on a particular spot they both knew drew a reaction from Adam. Ronan got him successfully from the door to the couch opposite the love seat and they tumbled down onto it.

“Fine, you get an hour. AN hour. Then I get to check my phone again, okay?” 

“We’ll see. Maybe I’ll draw it out a little bit… Maybe it’ll be an hour twenty. Maybe an hour thirty… Maybe two hours.” Again Ronan illustrated his point with sultry kisses to Adam’s lips and jawline. Adam hummed in response which let Ronan know he was right, he had as much time with Adam as he wanted.

Ronan kept at Adam’s lips and jawline until the boy was squirming against his professional slacks. Only then did Ronan run his hand across the tent prominently formed in the front of Adam’s navy pants and Adam gasped. Ronan grinned. He let his hand retreat and instead start picking the white shirt out of its tucked position in Adam’s pants. When he had some freedom, Ronan snaked his hand slowly up Adam’s torso, eliciting further gasps from his partner and further grins from himself.

“God, you’re so fucking sexy in your suit and tie,” Ronan breathed against Adam’s belly button. Adam drew in a breath and Ronan continued, “I think about blowing you under your desk, making you cum while you’re on the phone with some stupid lobyist. You hang up on them and I get up and ride you right in your office.”

“God, Ronan, you can’t just say things like that.” Adam huffed.

“I can’t? What, it’ll make you think about me at work? Me, under your desk, licking at your cock, every time you make a phone call you’ll think about me unzipping your khakis? What’s so wrong with that?” Ronan illustrated his point. He pushed Adam’s shirt up as far as it would go and unbuckled his belt. Soon after, Ronan was after Adam’s zipper and the button that kept Adam’s pants tight on him. With those distractions out of the way, Ronan yanked Adam’s slacks down and off him. For the moment Adam’s boxers stayed on, just for fun. He cupped Adam in one hand while the other roamed up Adam’s chest and he kissed him again. Adam was practically melting into the couch. Perfect, Ronan thought, Just where I want him.

“I’m going to be all distracted at work tomorrow with you talkin’ like that.” Adam finally managed to say, his accent dripping from his lips. Ronan took a moment to revel in it. He knew what it took to make Adam drop his affectation and he was so fucking turned on by being the one to do it. Years and years of them having sex still hadn’t dampened that little turn on. 

“I’ll apologize to the Senator myself. Oh, man, what if he walks in on us? What if I’m on top of you, riding your cock right there in your office and your boss walks in? Sees me all spent out on your dick? I’ll turn around and keep pumping up and down, but I’ll say, ‘Senator Fairview! I’m so sorry! I’ll get Adam back to work just as soon as I’m done with him.’”

Adam glared at Ronan but Ronan could feel his dick twitch in his hand and so Ronan just grinned back. “Yeah, I thought you’d like that, you sick perv.” Ronan kissed Adam’s snarky reply off of him and Adam relented into it once again. 

They broke after a few minutes of kissing to catch their breath and Adam said, “Get your fuckin’ clothes off asshole, it’s not fair.” Ronan was only too happy to comply. Adam unbuttoned his shirt and set it, a little carefully, off to the side, and tugged off his tie. Ronan threw his clothes in a messy pile behind him somewhere and never looked to find out. Once they were both naked, Ronan pushed Adam back into the couch and kissed him before whispering in his good ear, “I want to ride you, right here. Open me up, will you?” 

Adam closed his eyes and whimpered slightly. Years and years later it was still a thrill to hear Ronan Lynch, of all people, say that he wanted him. It never failed to send a shiver through him. He reached down and spread Ronan’s ass apart where it was resting on his thighs and brushed his middle finger against his opening. 

Ronan sucked in air through his nose.

“Where’s the lube?” 

Ronan shook his head, “I’m okay. Just take me slow. Here,” He reached behind him and pulled Adam’s hand up to his mouth. Adam felt Ronan’s soft warm mouth encase his fingers and suck, his dick below them twitching in response. After a few minutes, Adam’s fingers were slick enough to move back down to Ronan’s hole. Ronan gritted his teeth as Adam pushed the first one and Adam stopped for a second,

“If it hurts..”

“No, shut up, I like it. Keep going.” Ronan took in a deep breath and relaxed and soon Adam was moving one finger in and out of him steadily but slowly. 

“Can you do another?”

“Oh yeah, baby, come on.” Ronan pulled Adam’s hand up again and sucked on his fingers, wetting the other two. Adam bit his lip, the sight of his partner working so hard to let him fuck him made his head spin.

“Shit, Ronan, you’re so beautiful like that… So gorgeous…”

Adam moved his hand back down and after a few more minutes of them working together three of his fingers were sliding in and out of Ronan with ease, pulling moans from deep within Ronan’s chest. 

“C’mon Parrish, c’mon, I need it. Fuck, I need you. C’mon..” Ronan gasped. 

Adam reached down and grabbed his cock, it was slick by now with precome from watching Ronan break down in front of him, and he added a licked hand to the wetness. Then slowly, so slowly, he removed his fingers and replaced them with his cock. Both men groaned deeply, Adam from the sudden heat and pressure enveloping his leaking dick, and Ronan from the stiff fullness now settling into his body. As Adam bottomed out, Ronan gasped again, the tip of Adam’s cock brushing up against his prostate for the first time that night. His whole body lit up in response, 

“God, jesus, Adam, fuck.”

“Do you need a minute?”

“Yeah, yeah, give me a sec. Fuck, Parrish. Fuck you’re so good.” Ronan pulled Adam back in for another kiss as he let himself relax around Adam’s presence inside him. After a moment, he started pushing himself up and down on Adam. This caused another set of groans from them both. 

“You’re so fucking good, Ronan, fuck, I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Ronan said back, timing his pumps to his words and watching as Adam’s fall back into the couch. As much as he loved it, this was about making Adam relax. 

Oof, maybe not, he reconsidered as Adam hit his spot again, maybe this was all about how fucking good it felt to have Adam Parrish’s cock thrusting in and out of him. 

As they rose in intensity, Adam’s moans grew louder and deeper, but after a time they turned to high little gasps and curses, and Ronan knew his partner was close. He bit down on his lip and gripped Adam’s cock harder yanking another keen out of Adam.

“C’mon Parrish, yeah baby, right there. Come for me. Come inside me, Adam, I want you to so bad, come on, come for me baby.” 

Adam gasped, scrunching his eyes, but it was Ronan’s words like it always was that sent him over the edge. He thrust his hips up deep into Ronan and felt his cock pulse out inside of Ronan’s body. Ronan gripped him like a vice and dragged every drop from him before he reached down and finished himself off, shooting onto Adam’s chest and making a mess between them as Ronan collapsed into Adam’s body into the couch.

“Fuck, Lynch, that was incredible.” 

“Yeah? Worth turning off your fucking phone for a second?”

“Oh fuck…” Adam’s eyes opened and he tried to push Ronan off him and get to his phone, but Ronan pushed him back against the couch. 

“I told you, it’ll be there in a second. Kiss me.” 

Adam obeyed, and they lazily made out until Adam could slip out of Ronan more easily, though both of them hissed when he did. Ronan readjusted to just sitting on Adam’s thighs and they kept making out until Adam couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore and his lips stopped responding to Ronan’s advances. 

Very carefully, Ronan extracted himself and slipped his arms under Adam’s limp body. Moving as slowly as he could he carried the sleeping man to the bedroom and tucked him in. Before he joined Adam under the covers, Ronan snuck back to the living room and grabbed Adam’s phone.

Their video clips were all over social media.

He grinned and plugged Adam’s phone into the charger, set the alarm for the “Dangerous” setting, which meant Adam could sleep in an extra twenty minutes and skip the extensive part of his morning routine but still make it to work fifteen minutes early, and got under the covers holding his boyfriend tightly to their still slightly sticky chests.Within seconds Ronan was dreaming of light and Adam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first attempt at published smut. Hope you like it and I hope you think it's hot!


	3. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Declan's here. Adam and Declan meet.

Slickly edited videos of Blue and Gansey appeared everywhere after their testimony. 

“If we can’t trust the people who lived on this land for thousands of years before us, who can we trust?” Blue shouted.

“As you can see, and I’ve seen it myself first hand, Native control of land use increases agricultural production by over 78%, and reduces the environmental impact of large scale farming by half.” Gansey lectured in his somehow still enchanting way, complete with slide projector. 

Adam was ecstatic. There was so much to do before now and the vote next Monday. There were weekend appearances for Gansey and Blue, there were Sunday Shows he had to arrange for Fairview himself, the whole media team was reporting directly to Adam. The “entire media team” consisted of one professional video editor, one professional camera operator, and three interns with Twitter accounts, but Adam spent more time culling their ideas and giving notes than cajoling output from them. He was lucky in that regard. 

The opposition was fierce. Coal, Gas, Oil, and Big Agriculture were fighting tooth and nail for this bill to die. As fast as Adam and his team could put out content, the opposition was throwing every privileged thing Gansey had ever said and every protest Blue had gone to that had gotten out hand back at them. Rarely did single issues of legislation garner this kind of fervor from both sides of the aisle but Adam had pushed for it to be intentionally broad, intentionally divisive. This was his big chance. If Adam could pull this off not only would a huge blow to climate change be dealt but a giant portion of American frontierland would return to Native control and really give the American Indian community a seat at the table moving forward. And everyone who knew about national politics would know that Adam Parrish had done it. It could get him on a presidential campaign. It could get him on Fairview’s presidential campaign. It’s what he had been working towards since college.

“Tell her she can say goodbye to any support from the D-Triple-C on her next campaign if she’s trying to back out of this now,” Adam said into his phone, as loudly as Adam Parrish ever got. Never a yell, no, never a yell. But loud enough that there was no arguing. “Hold on, just give me a sec..” He pushed the hold button as he saw who walked through his door. 

Ronan stood there, hands in pockets. “Hey Parrish, you got time for lunch?”

“Ronan, what are you doing here? I’m in the middle of something.” Adam replied tersely, “I’ll be home later okay?” 

“Yeah. Sure.” Ronan said. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

Adam looked upset, but held a finger up, “Yes. I’m still here. No. Is she with us or not? There’s no middle ground on this one Carly.” 

Ronan left the office. 

After his phone call Adam slumped back down into his chair. He sighed. He thought they were doing alright. On his right was a white board with 538 names and X’s and O’s by each name showing him where they were. Sure, technically his office only had to coordinate and whip the 53 Democrats in the senate but there would be no point in whipping their members if the house wasn’t alongside them. For once the senate was the least of Adam’s concerns, he feared his counterpart in the house. There were not a lot of people that Adam truly felt equal to in congress, but the chief of staff at the house majority whip’s office was that exact parallel.

It didn’t help that that rival was his partner’s older brother.

***

“Declan.” Adam said into the phone.

“Parrish, how’s our mutual responsibility?” 

“Ronan’s fine, he’s great actually. You could call him yourself sometime.”

“He wouldn’t answer. Better to keep tabs on him through secondary means. Alright, pleasantries out of the way this is never going to pass.”

“Oh is that true?”

“Yes. We’re not going to let it out of the House as it is now and you won’t agree to our version in the Senate so we might as well compromise, wash our hands, and move on.”

Adam smirked. As much as Declan was a challenge, it was satisfying to speak to someone who was on his level intellectually. They weren’t just playing tug of war like the rank and file members, they were playing Go, or 3-D chess.

“Sure, but no one cares what a bunch of House Republicans think. I only need four of your side to come over to have a majority on this.”

Declan gave a barking laugh. “And I only need three of yours to stop this from moving forward. Here’s the situation. You need this for your ambitions, and I need this for mine. How can we help each other?”

“That’s magnanimous of you, Declan. But what I need is total victory, and Ellen’s not going to let a compromise go through. Besides, you know this is the right thing to do.”

“Be that as it may, I think there might actually be a way forward for both of us in this.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible, but I’d be open to a negotiation. Do you want to grab lunch and talk it over?”

“Sure. I’ll even be generous and come to you. I’m at the capitol anyways. I’ll meet you downstairs in the cafeteria in ten?”

They confirmed their plans and Adam set his phone back in its cradle. He leaned back in his chair. An offer from Ellen Gansey was very intriguing. And Declan making his way across the capitol grounds to the Senate office building told Adam everything he needed to know about who had the power in this exchange. Just to be sure though he checked that his door was closed and pulled out his deck of Tarot cards. After a quick shuffle the cards felt warm in his hands and he pulled the top card from the stack.

The Page of Pentacles. Okay, Adam thought, an opportunity makes sense. Something concrete and career oriented, this was clearly Declan’s offer. Another card would give him better clarity as to what he could expect.

The Tower. Adam took a breath. Never a calm card, the Tower represented dramatic and sudden change. This conversation was going to take an interesting turn then, and just looking at the card made Adam’s spine tingle with dread. The lighting bolt striking the tower felt like it was entering him at the top of his head. It wasn’t always a bad thing for things to change quickly, but it was never easy. He wondered what Declan was planning. One more then, a quick look forward.

Two of Swords. Adam rolled his eyes. A choice, a difficult set of options that needed clear thinking and logic to weigh and decide on. Sometimes the cards were a little obvious, he thought. Of course a dramatic life-altering offer would require thought and decision making.

He sighed and shuffled his cards again, trying to clear them and his mind of the thoughts running through his mind of what Declan’s offer could entail. In the middle of his flourish though his door opened and Adam started, he grabbed his cards and shoved them back into his desk, not noticing that one of them flew behind him face up. Luckily the man entering his office without knocking was looking at his phone.

“How is it looking, Adam? I was just on the phone with Johnson, the Oregon one, not the Nevadan, and he’s on our side. These videos are damn good, I knew your friends would bring it in.” His boss, Senator Douglas Fairview stood in the doorway. Fairview was a handsome man in a way that signaled that he had an even more handsome wife and they couldn’t have resisted making a couple of kids, which was exactly what had happened. Mrs. Fairview was an interior decorator who worked from home where she kept an eye on their two young children. Adam couldn’t have found a more perfectly presidential boss if he had had Ronan dream him one. 

“It’s fine, Senator, I’m actually meeting with Representative Gansey’s chief of staff downstairs for lunch. I think they’re going to offer something for us.” 

Fairview looked up from his phone and scrunched his brow, “Gansey’s chief of… His name’s like Daniel or something, isn’t it? Going to go show him every Axios story about his boss’ kid tearing her a new one in open hearings? Nice work, Adam.” Fairview’s voice sat right between Adam’s natural vowels and the heightened nobility of the Gansey accent. It was an accent that said, “I’ve been around the block, but I’ve never had to be so based as to ask for something.” It was a voice that made people respect him. He could talk to anyone. It wasn’t a dazzle like Gansey’s, but it was a warm sunshine day. 

“Declan, Senator. He and I went to highschool together, actually. He’s the older brother of my partner.” 

Fairview snapped his fingers and shot a finger gun at Adam, “Right, Declan. I always forget. Was Ronan here earlier? I thought June looked frazzled like she does when he comes by.” 

“Yes, Senator, he was here a second ago, but he left.’’

“You should make him move up here. It was killing Josie and I being apart for weeks on end when I first got this seat. Moving her and the kids to D.C. was the best thing that’s happened for us.”

“I’d love that, Senator, but Ronan has responsibilities back home.” Adam felt small walls building up around his personal space. He didn’t like talking about his relationship to anyone. Ronan’s ties to the Barns and to the leyline were hard to extricate and Fairview was right, it was straining their relationship for one of them to always have to travel. More realistically for Ronan to always have to travel. Adam was almost never able to actually get away from D.C. for more than a few hours before something pulled him back. Even when he was here Ronan and Adam could almost never spend any time together unless he included Ronan in his work like he had with Senator Hackfield. Ronan had been in town for almost four days now and the only times they had spent any real time together was the first night Gansey and Blue were in town, and the night right after their testimonies. That was already two days ago. 

“Just something to think about, Adam. I want you and him to be happy and I know distance does funny things to a relationship.”

“Of course, Senator. Thank you. This isn’t exactly protocol but I told Declan I’d be downstairs in just a few minutes, unless there was something else you needed, sir?” 

Adam stood up from his desk and Fairveiw put up his hands and smiled, “I don’t mean to keep you. Go show the House who’s the upper chamber, alright? Come let me know how it goes when you get back.”

“Of course, Senator.” 

Fairview backed up and turned towards his office. Adam breathed out a sigh and gathered his things for lunch. He didn’t notice the Tarot card lying behind his desk chair. The Five of Pentacles.

***

“You’re running next year.” Declan said with no preamble once he and Adam had sat down with their plates. 

“Of course we are, our seat is up.” Adam replied neutrally.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. You’re running for the nomination.”

Adam raised an eyebrow, “And what makes you think that, Declan?”

“Because we are too. I know what an exploratory exploratory committee looks like. We have one going too.” He was right, unfortunately, thought Adam. Fairview had started to circle the wagons in preparation for announcing an exploratory committee, the de facto move to announce a run for president. 

“So you’re not going to move on this native land use bill, are you. You’re going to need something to start that campaign off with.” 

“Au contraire. Your cynicism is peaking through, Parrish.”

“I learned from the best, Declan.”

Declan acknowledged the compliment and took an impressive drag from his cup of cafeteria coffee. Adam matched it with a swig from a cup of tea. 

“She wants to be your running mate.”

Adam spat out his tea.

“The fuck, Declan?” He sputtered.

Declan looked calm, dangerously so.

“Ellen Gansey wants to be your running mate. We’ll let enough Republicans go on your bill to make it pass and she’ll even vote for it herself if she gets top seat on the ticket next year.” Declan took another sip of his coffee.

Adam caught his breath. So this was what the Tower was warning him about. His mind was spinning. 

“That would never work…” 

“Yes it would, think it through, Parrish.”

Adam did. Suddenly the future came in like a vision, Fairview getting the nomination, Ellen losing valiantly by sticking to her principles. Fairview reaching across the aisle and across the capitol and choosing a female Republican for his running mate. The moderate vote would be theirs instantly. The Republican base would go to whatever pro-business crusader they could find, but the White House would be theirs.

“Jesus.”

“Amen.” Declan echoed. 

“You’re serious, aren’t you.”

“Deadly. This could be both of our tickets upstairs, Parrish. And it would set my side up for another run in four years.”

“I’ll have to run this past Fairview.”

“Of course.”

“He might not go for it.”

“He will if you suggest it. He trusts you, Parrish. Just like she trusts me.” 

Adam took a second to chew and think. It could work. It could just barely maybe definitely work. Declan saw the gears click to a new decision and he smiled.

“Wonderful. Now here’s the other half. You also have to agree to you being our running mate if that happens.” 

“Oh?”

“Sure, it’d only be fair. We’re not coming from a place of weakness here, Parrish. It’s simply a matter of electoral politics and who wins their nomination first. We both have a chance to win the nomination and we both have a chance to lose it. And in either case we can help the other and set them up for the next round.”

“And until next fall?”

“In the meantime we’re friendly enemies working across chamber and party lines. Give a little here, we’ll give a little there, and set up the electorate for a mixed party ticket. We could get a lot done for this country, Parrish. You and me.”

Adam sat back in his chair.

A gruff voice cut in, “It’s ‘You and I’, asshole. What are we talking about?”  
And strangely enough Ronan Lynch was sitting next to them with his chair turned backwards and straddling it. 

“Ronan!” Adam and Declan cried in almost perfect unison.

“I was just grabbing a sandwich cause Parrish ditched me and then I heard the dulcet tones of Declan bullshit wafting over me and I saw the strangest sight. Since when are you two lunch buddies?”

“Since there’s an important bill in front of both of our boss’ houses, Ronan.” Declan said with just a sliver of his usual disdain for his brother.

“He was offering us a deal, Ronan.” Adam countered. 

“So you blew me off for a lunch date with my brother? Damn, Parrish, that’s cold even for you. If you want to break up you can just tell me, you don’t have to do all the cloak and dagger.”

Ronan said it as a joke but there was an undercurrent of knife to his words. Adam took his hand and looked into his eyes. 

“I’m sorry, Ronan. He called me about an offer and we decided to meet in person instead. I wasn’t trying to blow you off.” 

“Interesting. I thought the one finger in my face was a pretty clear ‘Get the fuck out Ronan’”. Here Ronan imitated Adam shushing him as he turned back to answer an invisible phone. 

“Ronan. Adam’s busy.”

“Don’t say a word in this, Declan.” Ronan said with no room for argument. “This isn’t about you.”

“Ronan, I’m sorry okay? I’m trying to get this passed and it’s important…”

“It’s always important. I’m done eating anyways. Keep buttering up my brother to save the rutabagas or whatever the fuck you’re doing.” Ronan stood up and shoved his backwards chair roughly into the table. Both Declan and Adam tried to call after him, but neither tried hard, they didn’t need to call any more attention to their table than they already were with their conversation. Capitol reporters stalked the cafeterias like 1849 gold miners in a new river. 

“Great.” Adam said, slumping back into his chair.

“He’ll be okay.”

“Declan, I’m sorry, I really don’t want to hear it from you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rough! They're in a fight! They have it out in the next chapter don't worry.


	4. Renegotiations

“Where’s Ronan?” Gansey asked as he, Blue, and Adam sat down at Adam’s kitchen island with glasses and bourbon and wine. 

“I don’t actually know. He won’t answer my texts.” Adam said into his glass.

“What did you do?” Blue asked, with a pointed clarity despite her lack of psychic powers. 

“He saw me having lunch with Declan after I said I was too busy to have lunch with him.”

Gansey and Blue did the universal “ah ha” head movement in unison. Blue pulled out her phone, “He doesn’t ignore my texts.” and she typed out a quick message. 

“Has he realized that you can tell when he reads them?” Gansey asked pleasantly.

“I don’t think so, he never responds but he always reads them and usually calls or shows up wherever I am.” 

Sure enough, about twenty minutes later Ronan opened the door to the apartment. He furrowed his brow when he saw Adam. “So this is an intervention, Maggot? I can handle my own relationship problems thank you very fucking much.” 

Adam got up and walked to him. “I’m sorry. Declan called me after you had already left. I didn’t know he wanted to meet up. I thought we would just talk over the phone. I wasn’t blowing you off for your brother.”

“It’s not fucking Declan, Adam,” Ronan spat, “It’s all of it. Whatever. I’m not here for you, I’m trying to spend some time with our friends okay.” He pushed past Adam and poured himself a large glass of the bourbon and sat next to Gansey. 

“How was the hearing?”

“Boring” Blue said at the exact same time that Gansey said “Invigorating!”

“Sounds about right. I saw the clip on Twitter or whatever. You both looked good.” 

Adam slowly moved back to his place next to Blue, across from Ronan, and sipped at his drink. 

“Thank you, Ronan. I’m afraid we were a little overpowering, I wish more of the clips were showing the people who spoke after us.” Gansey said graciously.

“Yeah, but no one’s heard of them. They’re not Indiana Jones of the Mississippi or the crazy girl with the stupid name.” 

Blue rolled her eyes. 

“How is it looking, Adam? Did we move the needle?”

Adam looked up at his name a little stunned. “Uh. Yeah. Definitely. There are definitely pieces moving.”

“Like with my brother.”

“Yes, Ronan, with your brother. Who works for our best friend’s mom, who happens to be one of the highest ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

“I don’t need a fucking civics lesson, Parrish.”

“Then don’t be a shitbag.”

“Yeah, Ronan, don’t be a shitbag.” Blue winked at Ronan and the tension dissolved for the moment. They all laughed for a second. 

The evening continued on apace, until Blue said they were tired and Gansey finally caught her eye to understand that she meant they needed to leave to let the boys have some space to talk.

“Right, exhausted.” Gansey said, and yawned, but whether that was for show or actual exhaustion was unclear. They said their goodbyes with hugs and fist bumps around and closed the door behind them.

“Okay. So if it’s not Declan, what is it?” Adam said as the door shut and turning back towards Ronan.

“Like I said. All of it. It’s never about me, Adam. Okay? It’s never for me. You don’t come back to Henrietta. I always come here. I always have to put in the work to call you. I always have to make the effort. The only time I get you all to myself is if I’m fucking you on the couch and I’m sick of it!” 

“I’m chief of staff to the senate majority whip, Ronan, it doesn’t come with a lot of down time.” Adam countered, both of their voices rising.

“Oh! I didn’t know. It’s the only thing you ever fucking talk about. Fairview this, Fairview that.”

“At least I have a job.”

“There it is,” Ronan laughed. “It always comes back to me not finishing fucking high school doesn’t it. Are you ashamed of me, Adam? Does it hurt your fucking reputation that your boyfriend didn’t go to Eton or fucking Harvard?”

“I… I didn’t mean that.” Adam deflated. “Ronan, I don’t want to fight with you.”

“I don’t either but it looks like that’s the only way you listen to me anymore!” 

“This is the biggest bill of my whole career. This could be what launches our run next year. Do you get that?”

“Yeah, and then there’s going to be another bill. And then you’ll announce. And then you’ll stop being chief of staff and you’ll become campaign manager, and then I’ll see you even less. You’ll be in fucking Oregon and Iowa for a whole year and then you’ll probably win ‘cause you’re amazing and then it will be four years of even longer days and shittier weekends and more bills and more bills and when does it end, Adam? When does it just end? How am I going to do that? I don’t want to just get your dregs for the next five to nine years.” 

Ronan had started his speech in anger, but he tipped towards just honesty at the end. His shoulders hung down and he sat on the couch. Adam crossed to him and sat next to him. They weren’t touching yet, but they were on the same level.

“I can’t give up this job, Ronan. This is everything I've ever wanted, since before I met you even. But it doesn’t mean anything if I’m not coming home to you. Is there any way we can work this out?”

“I don’t know. It just sucks, Parrish. I can’t just be your distraction and back up all the time. I have problems too.”

“I know. I know. Maybe I can work something out with Fairview, maybe I can negotiate the same day off every week where it can just be for us and we can try to fit in as much around that too.” 

Adam reached out and grabbed Ronan’s hand. Ronan jerked his head away from him but didn’t jerk his hand away. 

“One night a week, Parrish, that’s not enough.” 

“I know.” 

They looked at each other. Ronan squeezed Adam’s hand and got off the couch walking towards the bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm reorganizing this whole fic to make it a series rather than an individual work so I can make it more like stories in a world rather than connecting them all. This one's very exposition heavy to outline where some of the others are. Thanks for the readings and kudos and I hope you enjoy it!


End file.
